HomeMy Public PortalAboutBoard of Health -- 2022-07-06 MinutesTown of Brewster
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BREWSTER, MASSACHUSETTS 0263 14 898
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Board of Health Meeting
Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at TOOPM
Hybrid Meeting
Health Department! 1
Amy L. von Hone, R.S.;;,QOH.QI.,
Director I j
I I ct:c
Sherrie McCullough, R.S.
Assistant Director
Tammi Mason
Senior Department Assistant
Board members attending: Penny Holeman, MPH, MA, MS, Chair; Kimberley Crocker Pearson, MS, MD, MPH; Dave Bennett
Board members attending remotely: Annette Graczewski, MT, (ASCP)
Others attending: Amy von Hone, R.S., C.H.O., Health Director and Tammi Mason, Senior Department Assistant
1. Call to Order
Meeting was called to order at 7:OOPM
2. Chairman's announcements
None
3. Citizen's Forum
4. New member welcome —David Bennett
Mr. Bennett was welcomed to the Board.
5. Re -organization of the Board
Ms. Holeman stated that she wished to end her term as Chair of the BOH and nominated Annette Graczewski as new Chair. Mr.
Bennett seconded, and Mrs. Graczewski accepted.
Ms. Holeman nominated Kimberley Crocker Pearson as Vice Chair of the Board. Mr. Bennett
seconded. Dr. Pearson accepted.
Dr. Pearson will remain on the WQRC, and Mrs. Graczewski will remain on the Recycling Committ
ee
6. Consent agenda
a. In House variance request - 47 Governor Prence Road
b. 2022 Seasonal Permits
Motion: Approve consent agenda
Motion: Annette Graczewski Second: Dave Bennett Vote: Penny Holeman —yes Action: Motion carried
Kimberley Crocker Pearson -yes
Annette Graczewski -yes
Dave Bennett — yes
BOH 7/6/22 Minutes Page 2
7. Discuss proposed Title 5 revisions &funding
Mrs. von one explained that all Health Directors and Town Administers were called on Friday of Memorial Day weekend to let them
know that proposed Title 5 revisions were coming (DEP). Letters were given to BOH's (included in packet). Revisions are proposed to
address regulatory strategies for Cape Cod Estuaries impaired by Nitrogen. This has been an issue for many years all over the cape.
There are two major changes: Title 5 regulations are going to establish Nitrogen Sensitive Areas (NBA's) for watershed's draining into
estuaries with EPA approved Total Maximum Daily Loads indicating that there is excess nitrogen, which makes it "impaired". With
these estuaries that need to be cleaned up, Title 5 regulations will now require that any new or existing/upgraded septic systems in
these established NSA's will have to install I/A systems that will treat and reduce nitrogen within 5 years of the NSA designation.
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is going to establish Watershed Permits (20- year permits). The intent is to create 20
year permits that will be in sync with long term wastewater plans to give the opportunity to plan out the most appropriate way of treating
the wastewater that will take longer than 5 years.
If the town is approved by DEP with a 20 -year watershed permit, that would negate the requirement to have individual properties install
I/A systems. Currently Pleasant Bay is the main one and Herring River may be another one. This all still needs to be determined.
Brewster is part of Pleasant Bay Alliance that is taking care of the Pleasant Bay embayment and are also part of a 4- town group
(Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, and Harwich). Brewster has the smallest contribution going into Pleasant Bay. To date, a good portion of
our significant nitrogen reductions have been done through projects and changes at Captain's Golf Course, such as a reduction in the
amount of fertilizer being put down. The Town is proposing an upgrade to the septic system there which will include I/A technology for
nitrogen reduction. Also, currently the Town is in the middle of a study to determine how much fertilizer is actually making its way down
to the water table because there is a belief that the numbers being plugged into the formula to determine how much is actually getting
down to the groundwater is actually less in reality. Brewster currently has an Integrated Water Resource Management Plan that was
initiated in 2009 and addresses both fresh and salt water and drinking water. That plan has not been formally approved by DEP. They
have been provided with that plan twice and DEP initially said they didn't need to review and approve the plan and sent it back to the
Town. It was sent again, and the Town has not heard anything from DEP yet. The current Wastewater Plan proposes to utilize
individual I/A systems and not sewers. The Town needs to figure out where their planning is going to fit into the new requirements with
the Title 5 revisions.
AG -Any other estuaries in Brewster besides the 2 that were spoken about? AVH-not sure.
AG -is the current PB permit a 5 or 20 -year plan?
years.
KCP-What is the criteria for NBA's? What criteria is it based on?
AVH-TMDL's were originally determined by UMass Dartmouth.
DB -What permit do we currently hold, and in what capacity?
AVH-Soley for PB watershed and doesn't cover the rest of Brewster or the other 3 communities.
AG -it's the PB watershed alliance with Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, and Orleans. The permit was issued to all 4 of the towns (Pleasant
Bay Watershed Alliance) to address the concerns with Pleasant Bay.
DB -can we get a copy of the permit and add it to the agenda for the next meeting?
AVH — yes.
DB- in the current Title 5 regulations, NSAs are much broader than now. Would like to keep this on the forefront of the BOH agenda.
Talked about satellite plants. Talked about I/A's and stated that in his opinion they don't always work up to code. In the Phase 2 report,
I/A's are the most expensive alternative and the attraction for these alternatives are good but the State does require you to have a back
up plan. Wants to know where Brewster is with the permit. Is it approved or not approved? Doesn't want to see the burden on the
homeowners.
Is there an opportunity to partner with our neighbors to purchase nitrogen credits?
AVH- That has been tossed around as one of the options to solve our contribution to Pleasant Bay.
DB- Those things were all on the table up until when that committee was disbanded, so I'm not sure where that all ended up. I was the
consultant running the golf course study originally and do appreciate that they went to a different regime for fertilizer, but I am not
positive that the state has bought into that and I don't want us to be placated by something that we think is it's satisfactory when it may
not be.
AVH -I think one of the things that we've been talking about is going back to the first meeting of the month being for hearings and
seconA
meeting of the month being for workshops and working on regulations, etc., this is something that maybe we want to confirm
BOH 7/6/22 Minutes Page 3
with our Board so that we can have these discussions like Dave is talking about. This is essentially going to dominate our lives for the
next few years.
DB — it's going to be the Board of Health that's going to be the one that's going make those decisions and make that enforcement, so I
think we want to be aligned with the town planner and our consultant and quite frankly know exactly where we are and then figure out
what the state is planning for us to do. I think Brewster, from my observation and from me being in the private practice, has a lot of great
regulations that also provide potential credits for what we're already doing. I just want to make sure that I understand that, and that we
are moving into a proactive solution rather than find ourselves in a reactive solution which I know is frustrating. The conservation law
foundation sued the EPA and DEP and they said that they would get this done. They didn't establish a time frame and now they've had
deer island for almost 20 years, and, I think Orleans has not come online yet but that some expansions have happened. I think there's a
frustration and this is where it's leading to, maybe in what I would consider a fall - back position where they can use enforcement to
meet the standards and satisfy the CLF, but I don't think it's in individuals' interest to bear all that cost. It is only targeted at the Cape
whereas, you know that's where the suite is.
AG- I just want to say I appreciate Dave's comments and I appreciate your interest and I also welcome the knowledge that you can
share with us based on your past work with the group. I think Amy and I have talked about this once before having the working sessions
and I think this would be an excellent topic for us to focus on you know at one of our monthly meetings I think it would give everybody
an opportunity to dive more deeply into this information and become better educated so we know better going forward how we want to
approach this. I don't think you're alone in many of your thoughts regarding the nitrogen credits or even the neighborhood systems that
might help to achieve some of the goals that they've set out for us.
AVH-Another additional follow up comment is that we have a new planner, so he's trying to come up to speed with what's going on in
the town of Brewster and there's still a lot of things that are up in the air that we're going to have to work with as we try to figure out
what our role should be in what we need to be doing with all of this.
AG - I know that Amy has been meeting already with other town employees regarding the water quality planning and I believe they are
meeting tomorrow.
AVH- Correct. We have a core in-house group that is comprised of Health Director, DNR Director, Town Planner, our Water Quality
consultant Mark Nelson, and the Town Administrator. That's usually the core group and we'll bring other staff in as it relates to them.
AG- I'm looking forward to hearing what's on the agenda for that group and what you're accomplishing in those meetings that might be
important for the Board to now on a forward going basis.
AVH- I've gotten the impression from DEP that they are looking for collaboration between towns as much as possible. I think their goal is
for central sewers. I will certainly give you that update at the next meeting.
DB- So are we all in agreement that we will move in that direction of holding 1 public meeting and the second will be a "work" meeting.
KCP- I think the learning curve on this is going to be very steep so I think that it makes a lot of sense to use the second meeting as a
work meeting.
DB- There's a lot of new players. We've had a lot of change over in personnel, the DEP has had a lot of change over in personnel.
There's a lot of information that we already have so maybe we don't have to reinvent the wheel we just need to get grounding under the
new rules.
8. Discuss MassDEP's Regulatory Strategy for Cape Cod Estuaries Impaired by Nitrogen
AVH- As far as wastewater financing and funding goes, Brewster is currently part of the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund
(CC & I). That's funded by short term rental taxes and that was set up through legislation specifically for Cape Cod and the Islands.
There has been recent discussions by the select board over the last year, on whether Brewster was going to continue to move forward
and be a member of The CC & I Water Protection Fund because of concern that the availability of those funds may not actually benefit
Brewster because of the type of wastewater projects that we're moving towards, which is individual VA's and that type of project isn't
considered one of the top tiers or the higher priorities. The Town is not sure how much of a benefit it would get from the money that
we're putting into it because it's going to other towns that have much bigger projects that are classified as higher priority. The
Selectboard was going to take a vote on that. The original intent was to do a vote at town meeting this spring, but it was taken off the
table because of some of the changes that are coming down the pike. The vote by the Selectboard has been put on hold because of
Title 5 revisions that are being proposed. That's also instigating potential changes at the State level on how the current State funding
may be applied to wastewater projects. Brewster in-house staff are planning discussions with the different State agencies, including our
State Reps about how rules and regulations are set up on how that money can be dispersed. If you had gone to the Brewster Ponds
BOH 7/6/22 Minutes Page 4
Coalition Pond Summit recently, part of that discussion by the State agencies were on some of the changes the State is thinking about
with the State Revolving Fund and our Water Protection Fund, which would benefit Brewster.
Additionally, inhouse staff we're going to be meeting with State Entities this month but with the proposed Title 5 changes that's been put
on hold. In addition, Brewster is seeking technical assistance from the Cape Cod Commission to look at all the different funding sources
that are out there and how that those funding sources will fit into Brewster's needs, what we will be potentially eligible for and help
clarify what solutions are available to us. I think that study is going to need to take place and will most likely take a few months. We
probably won't end up meeting with State funding entities until that study is done to figure out what the State is willing to do to change
their current process as far as who is eligible for their funding.
The last thing about financing is, Barnstable County is currently proposing changes to the County Septic Loan Program that we have
that's been in place for a good number of years now. This has been a great program and a great resource for homeowners to tap into
financing to pay for septic system upgrades. Since its inception, when it was taken over completely by the County (originally was State
money that was made available to individual towns in Massachusetts after the 1995 Title 5 regulations went into effect the individual
towns were dispersing that money to residents for a couple of years and then the county) most of the towns decided to just pool all their
money and give it to the county to oversee and administer, and that's where it's sat for a good number of years. It is a simple program
application process, the money is loaned out at a 5% interest over 20 years, and that's been the standard for a good number of years.
Now you're talking about towns that have central sewers, where people are going to have to pay to tap into that new sewer or towns like
Brewster where the current proposal is I/A systems. You know your group of residents, you know run the gamut on that spectrum of
low income to high income and what the county is doing is they've done a study on how can they change that program to help
accommodate all facets of what we have out there so they're proposing to change that loan program so that it has essentially a sliding
scale that's based on income eligibility, so zero percent up to 5% and even some people may qualify for loan forgiveness. There are a
bunch of different things that are happening as far as what our options are going to be for funding and it's another one of those stay
tuned because things are developing as we speak. I'll certainly keep you updated on things that I'm involved in in house. So as far as
what I think our focus probably needs to be in the short term is, as Dave had suggested, we need to keep this wastewater planning in
the forefront as we move through that process from all aspects. I do think it's important to know what we have for I/A 's now in town and
how they are working as well as what types we have. I have asked the MASSTEC I/A testing program if they could do a summary of
what we have for systems here in town and give us a presentation on where we're at with those.
DB- That information used to be public record and it used to be posted on their site and that seemed to have just disappeared.
AVH- I have access as Health Department staff to the database.
DB- I think that we do as board members also so if you can share that or otherwise pull that information that would be helpful.
AVH —That is what I am having MASSTEC go over with the Board in August.
AG- I wanted to point out for Dave that we do get monthly reports from Tracy long at the county of the most recent results of all the
systems that we have in town so anything that was tested shows up.
AVH- It is a monthly report and usually only about 10 systems show up because it depends on the cycle of who is gett
ing tested that
month.
AG- can we add Dave to the list to receive those reports. AVH —already done.
KCP (to Amy) -you spoke about State and County funding and obviously local funding sources, but you didn't mention anything about
the Federal sources of funding for wastewater. For example, EPA right now has a RFA out for an $18,000,000 fund that they have for
small rural and tribal wastewater systems that has an application date of August 22nd this year and the forms are straightforward to go
through. Is anybody looking at the federal monies that are available for small and rural wastewater technical assistance?
DB - We don't have a project. If we got a project, we could fund it, but private homeowners aren't going to get grants, these are loans.
Cr
-The current RFA out of EPA is tools training and technical assistance for small and rural wastewater systems, so they can give us
money, if you will, through this plan to do some of the things that we've already been talking about. Which is investigate the efficiency of
some of these I/A systems or for whatever we feel we need. It's federal money it just doesn't seem like that was on the table at all.
DB- I would love to have a project that had a cost and a scope of work to look at the possibility of a satellite plant that would take care of
the entire amount of nitrogen we need to reduce, and that would be our backup plan. The DEP and these propagations in the
watershed say we must demonstrate that what we say is working is actually working. There will be somebody who must monitor
Pleasant Bay. The caveat is, you must have a back - up plan for conventional technology if it doesn't work. There's where you could get
a grant to have a preliminary design for a system funded. I think that after we have these discussions and go further with this, we should
be looking for those types of things and the same with the sharing of the income that we're getting from the County.
BOH 7/6/22 Minutes Page 5
9. Review & Approve minutes from 3/16/22; 4/6/22; 4/20/22; 5/4/22 & 5/18/22
Motion: Approve all minutes with one minor change.
Motion: Annette Graczewski Second: Kimberley Crocker Pearson Vote: Annette Graczewski —yes Action: Motion carried
Kimberley Crocker Pearson — yes
David Bennett — abstain
Penny Holeman — yes
10. Confirm availability for Joint Selectboard/Board of Health meeting on 8/8/22 at 6:OOPM to fill the Board of Health
vacancy
AVH- There has been 1 application submitted so far.
AG -as of right now I am available for a remote meeting
KCP-is this meeting going to be in person or remote? AVH-not sure at this moment.
KCP-I am available for in person or remote
DB- I can attend remotely if it is allowed.
PH — I am not available.
11. Liaison Reports
KCP- WQRC met and there were no issues that came out of it.
AG —Recycling Commission is involved in a couple of different things at this time. The primary one is that they are
continuing UPIrovide education at the transfer station to assist individuals with the changes in the glass and the newspaper, newsprint,
recycling and, the facility where they do the recycling is having a problem with all the black plastic that's being put in the plastics
container, so we're trying to help people recognize that black plastic cannot go into that container it has to go into household trash. So,
they've been present at the transfer station trying to assist the town employees in educating folks regarding that issue. They've also
been encouraging recycling at the White Caps games, so they've become more actively involved in assisting the Whitecaps with that
program as well.
12. Matters not reasonably anticipated by the Chair
None.
13. Items for next agenda
Title 5 revisions.
KCP — I sit on the State Pesticide Advisory Council, who will be meeting this Friday and there are two issues that I'd like to bring up at
the next meeting, one of which is the mosquito control plan and the potential application for municipality opt out. I know this has been
controversial in the past and I thought, since we are having a presentation on Friday by the mosquito control division, I might bring it
back here so that we could talk about the issues that happen around an opt out. I know that there's been some concerns about
pesticide use in town and that in fact, the Board of Health did write a letter regarding the right of way spraying, so it would just be an
opportunity to talk about that. The second big item on our agenda is that on Friday June 24th the 9th circuit did rule on the glyphosate,
AKA Roundup document that was put out under the previous administration's EPA, It's going back to EPA for the biological concerns
and there will be an opportunity to discuss that this Friday and I could bring that back to the meeting because again, that was part of the
issue that the previous Board of Health wrote to Eversource about and to NDAR.
DB- Wastewater item on agenda. Get a copy of the four town Pleasant Bay permit. Amy could also give an update on the internal
conversation about some of the other questions, such as whether or not we have an approved Wastewater Management Plan. I'd like to
encourage the members to review the phase two document for the Pleasant Bay Nitrogen Management Alternatives Analysis. It's on the
town webpage, it was done by Horsley Witten in March of 2015.
Minutes Page 6
14. Next meeting: July 20, 2022
►C.i�:�
Informational items were noted.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20PM
*Accompanying documents in packet: Agenda, variance request information for 47 Governor Prence Road, Title 5 revisions, Covid
update information and informational items.